Sleep Disorders

There is growing awareness about the importance of sleep and healthy breathing. Sleep is a time of dynamic healing and growth for the body’s immune, nervous, muscular and skeletal systems. Without the restful effects of sleep, the body and mind do not function at optimal levels. People with sleep-related breathing disorders fight for air every night. This reduces oxygen levels to the brain and affects the quality of their sleep.

The Center for Sound Sleep is dedicated to assisting you or your loved one in understanding the health risks caused by sleep-related breathing disorders with the goal of helping those who suffer get restful sleep through effective treatment.

Reasons for poor sleep quality

While most scientists agree that a typical adult needs about eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, studies show that many of us sleep a lot less.

Simply evaluating and adjusting sleep habits will most likely take care of lifestyle and sleep hygiene related sleeping problems. However, sleep-related breathing disorders can destroy a person’s life and severely injure health, contributing to serious illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, stroke and depression. Related conditions may range from fibromyalgia to pre-eclampsia in pregnancy. They require careful analysis and in many cases professional treatment. Unfortunately many sufferers are unaware of their own sleep problems, though many bed partners can attest to problematic sleep behavior of their mate. If left untreated, quality of life often decreases significantly while medical expenses might more than double.

Factors Influencing Sleep Quality

Upper Airway Collapse

The one thing that all forms of sleep-related breathing disorders have in common is sharing some form of upper airway collapse during sleep. Learn how different sleep-related breathing disorders affect sleep:

Snoring

Approximately 20 percent of the adult population snores, rising to 60 percent of men above the age of 40. Though many consider snoring to be just a nuisance, it can actually be a symptom of a much more serious condition that can cause severe health problems if not treated. It is imperative to find out if your snoring is part of a larger problem as soon as possible.

Sleep Apnea

Also known as sleep suffocation, sleep apnea is one of the most undiagnosed disorders in modern medicine. Sleep suffocation affects, to varying degrees, 17 percent of adults between the ages of 30 and 69. Their bodies experience periodic bouts of suffocation and highly reduced levels of oxygen throughout the night, putting serious strain on the body.

UARS

Upper Airway Respiratory Syndrome is commonly known as severe snoring, but the sounds being made by the body are not inherent to the diagnosis. In actuality, this syndrome is a result of the body needing to exert extra work to pull air into the lungs and can prevent someone from getting rest or result in other health problems.

TMJ

TMJ Disorder is caused by injury to the jaw and is most common in people between the ages of 20 and 40. Symptoms of this disorder include difficulty chewing, the jaw getting locked, and pain in the area of the mouth. This pain can continue to spread to the head, neck, and shoulders if not treated properly.